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Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 7:13-21King James Version (KJV)
My greatest fear for the dissident right has always been capture by Stormfront entryists. Unfortunately, this seems to have come to pass with the successful influence of Stormfront types who have successfully able to rebrand themselves as the alt-Right. As Ramsay Paul points out that the problem for the Rightist who finds the mainstream Right repulsive is that alternative positions or movements he might wish to entertain have become increasingly constrained by the infusion of the alt-Right into what was formerly intelligent NRx.NRx, particularly Christian NRx, is the long term future for the Right. However it is now getting squeezed by the mainstream Right and the alt-Right. Mainstream Rightists like to label any Rightist who is outside their opinion window as a Racist, on the other hand, their mirror image, the alt-Right, likes to label any Rightist outside their window as a cuck.
As much as NRx is an intellectual movement it does need people. Not just in terms of thinking, but in terms of disseminating ideas, organising people and so on. It doesn't need to be a "mass movement" but it does need to be a real movement, otherwise it's simply pie in the sky ideas and will be without any historical relevance whatsoever. The problem is for NRx is not just diagnosis, the problem is how to move the world. The apparent current strategy, of being the last man standing, is in my opinion false. A collapsing society produces power vacuums and that vacuum is going to be filled either by NRx grasping power or someone else doing it. Power tempered by ideas is the ultimate imperative of NRx.
NRx is going to need people. Governance is not through ideas alone, rather it needs people who are going to implement them. Not the People-of-Walmart, otherwise known as sheep in the Bible, but shepherds. NRx seemed to provide a space where intelligent ideas could be discussed freely and a rallying point for those intelligent but dissatisfied people of the right. However, with the infusion of the alt-Right, thought policing--admittedly of different kind--has returned with methods of the SJW, driving away the intelligent people.
Racist is the term used by the Left for anyone who opposes their multicultural dogma, Cuck has now become the slur for anyone who opposes the Stromfront view of Race. There is quite simply no middle ground between the two groups. It's one set of puritans against the other. Dumb and dumber; the intelligent person just wants to walk away. The role of the Alt-Right is to proletise NRx.
For the Left this state of affairs is particularly fortuitous and sometimes you have to wonder if they bring out their alt-Right hitmen every now and then to discredit intelligent Rightist through guilt by association. Nothing, and I mean nothing, would benefit both Hillary and the GOP to see the Stormfront types endorse Donald and he likewise embrace their views. They are political poison.
Nationalism does not have to be toxic. The alt-Right makes it so. The reason why Victor Orban put Richard Spencer in Jail is because Victor Orban's racial awareness is not the same as Richard Spencer. Racial realism or more better still, group identity, does not imply a malignant racism. Yet the Left would like you to think so and the alt-Right want you to do so. They work in synergy and they're working to kill NRx.
For the record. I have no association with Ramsey Paul whatsoever. I've simply reblogged his post because I thought it was very good.


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Gates Gives $300 million - but with a Catch
It's becoming increasingly evident that Bill Gates' philanthropy is not simple and disinterested, but has woven into it a complex agenda that has to do with his love of intellectual monopolies - and power. Here's the latest instalment:
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is donating another $120 million to boosting agriculture in the developing world, will focus on self-help aid for poor farmers to sustain and grow production, a top adviser to the world's leading charitable foundation said.
Sounds good, no? Here are more details:The Gates Foundation, with a $30 billion endowment to improve health and reduce poverty in developing countries, began investing in agricultural projects three years ago. The latest grants bring its farm sector awards to $1.4 billion.
One of its first investments was in African seeds through the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The group is expected to introduce more than 1,000 new seed varieties of at least 10 crops to improve African production by 2016.
"Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa" also sounds good; here's a little background on that organisation:It has not gone unnoticed that AGRA falls under the direct supervision of the Global Development Program, whose senior programme officer is Dr. Robert Horsch, who worked for Monsanto for 25 years before he joined the Gates Foundation. Horsch was part of the scientific team in the company that developed Monsanto's YieldGard, BollGard and RoundUp Ready technologies. Horsch's task at the Gates Foundation is to apply biotechnology toward improving crop yields in regions including sub-Saharan Africa. Lutz Goedde another senior program officer of the Global Development Program, is also a recruit from the biotech industry as he used to head Alta Genetics, the world's largest privately owned cattle genetics improvement and artificial insemination Company, worth US$100 million.
That is, AGRA not only has close links with the Gates Foundation, but also with Monsanto - the Microsoft of the seed world.
If you read the rest of the document from which the above information was taken, you'll see that the AGRA programme is essentially promoting approaches using seeds that are genetically modified and patented. Here's the conclusion:Sub-Saharan Africa represents an extremely lucrative market for seed companies. The development interventions by AGRA appear on the face of it, to benevolent. However, not only will AGRA facilitate the change to a market based agricultural sector in Africa replacing traditional agriculture, but it will also go a long way towards laying the groundwork for the entry of private fertilizer and agrochemical companies and seed companies, and more particularly, GM seed companies.
So Gates' donations are ultimately promoting an agriculture based on intellectual monopolies - just as Microsoft does in the software field. The latest $300 million doesn't sound quite so generous now, does it?
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca.

subset: commoncrawl


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Camera Name: | Pentax K-7 |
Body Material: | Magnesium Alloy Outer Shell on Stainless Steel Chassis |
Body Reliability: | 77 Places Sealed, Cold-Resistant: Can be Operated under Temperature at -10°C |
Sensor: | New Version of Samsung 14.6MP CMOS APS-C Imager in 23.4 x 15.6mm (Aspect Ratio 3:2), 4 Data Channels Readout |
Dust Removal: | New DRII System, Low-Pass/Anti-Aliasing Optical Filter Placed in Front of Sensor is Capable to beMoved in High Ultrasonic Frequency; Featuring also the Dust Alert System to the User |
ISO Speeds: | ISO 100-3200, 6400 Available on Expansion (to be Set via Custom Function) |
Image Processing: | Newly Developed PRIME (Pentax Real IMage Engine) II Image Processor for High Performance and High Speed Still Image and Movie Data Processing; Better-Quality Images with RicherGradation and More Accurate Color Rendition |
Mount: | Pentax KAF2 (Crippled K-mount, Support Both Body Driven "Screw-Type" AF KAF and SDM KAF2/KAF3 Lenses) |
Viewfinder: | Optical Type, Glass Prism, 100% Image Coverage, 0.92X Magnification |
Focusing Screen: | New Natural-Bright-Matte III Focusing Screen, Improved Manual Focusing Accuracy |
Shutter: | 1/8000th second Top Speed, X-Sync=1/180s, 100,000 Shutter Actuations Durability |
Continuous Shooting Modes: | Continuous (Hi):- JPEG: 5.2 FPS: Until 40 Frames; RAW(PEF): Until 15 Frames; RAW(DNG): Until 14 Frames Continuous (Lo):- |
Live View: | Yes: Real-time, On-display image Confirmation, Activated by One-touch Dedicated "LV" button at the Thumb Position; Continuous Shooting Possible Under the LV Mode (Without Breaking the LV Mode and Exposure will be Adjusted Automatically and Continuously Via Automatic Diaphragm) |
Live View AF Options: | Contrast Detection AF with Face Recognition Option |
Other Preview Options: | Optical Preview; Digital Preview |
Movie/Video Recording: | Movie/Video with Mono-Audio Recording (with Built-in Microphone), Supported Video Modes: 1280 x 720 Pixels (16:9 Standard High Definition), 640 x 416 (3:1.95), 1536 x 1024 (3:2), All Modes at 30 Frames Per Seconds |
Top Monochrome Status LCD: | Yes, with Electro-Luminescence (EL) Backlight |
Rear Colour LCD Monitor: | 3.0", 640 x 480 Standard VGA Resolution, Approximately 920,000 Colour Dots, 170° Degrees of View both Vertically and Horizontally |
e-Wheels Control: | Front and Rear Wheels |
Green Button: | Yes, Directly Under the Rear Wheel |
Exposure Modes: | Green Mode, Hyper Program (P), Sensitivity Priority (Sv), Shutter Priority (Tv), Aperture Priority (Av), Shutter-Aperture Priority (TAv), Hyper Manual (M), Bulb (B), X-Sync (X), User and Movie |
Metering System: | New 77-Segment Multi-Pattern Metering System, which Divides the Frame Equally in 7 x 11 Segments, Vertically and Horizontally Respectively; More Advanced Algorithm for Higher Exposure Accuracy |
Metering Modes: | Evaluative, Centre-Weighted Average, Spot; Selected via Dedicated Metering Mode Level at Camera Top |
AF System: | New SAFOX VIII+ AF System, Layout Same As SAFOX VIII (11-Point, 9 Crossed);Improved in Speed and Accuracy |
Focusing Modes: | AF-S, AF-C, MF; Via Dedicated Focusing Mode Selector Level |
Dedicated AF Button: | Yes |
Dedicated AF Point Selector: | Yes: Central, Auto and User Select |
Built-in Flash (RTF): | Yes, Manual Pop-Up |
Built-in AF Assist Light: | Yes |
Orientation Sensor: | Yes |
Shake Reduction: | Pentax Original SR System which is Capable of Compensation Shakes in Up/Down, Left/Right and Rotational (Clockwise/Counter-clockwise) Directions |
SR Activation: | Preset by Camera in Different Modes or Manually Activated/Deactivated by the User via System Menu |
Image Tone Modes: | Seven Modes: Bright, Natural, Portrait, Landscape, Vibrant, Monochrome, Muted (for Delicate, Subdued Colours); Actual Effect Previewable under LV or Digital Preview Mode |
Image Parameters: | Saturation, Hue, Contrast, Sharpness, Filter Effect, Toning, Key and ContrastHighlight/Shadow; Actual Effect Previewable under LV or Digital Preview Mode |
White Balance Presets: | Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Fluorescent Light, Tungsten Light, Flash, CTE (Emphasizing the Colours of Sunset Scenes) and Incandescent-Tinted Fluorescent Light |
Manual White Balance: | Yes: Manual Measurement, Presets and Fine-Tuning (for Green Vs Magenta and Blue Vs Amber) |
Supported Colour Spaces: | sRGB (Default) and AdobeRGB |
Other Features: | HDR (High Dynamic Range) Mode (One Composite Image from 3 Exposure Bracketed Images), Dynamic Range Expansion, Auto Distortion and CA Corrections, Multiple Exposures, Copyright Credits Attachment, Dedicated RAW Button, 16 Digital Filters |
Controls Around Shutter Release: | Optical/Digital Preview; Two Separate Buttons for ISO Speed Selection and +/- EV Compensation / Top LCD Panel Backlight/Illumination |
Direct Control System for Basic Functions: | With the Four Ways / "OK" Buttons for WB, Flash, Drive and Image Tone Mode / AF Point Selection Activation |
Standard Digital Controls: | Play/Delete (at Upper Left), Info/Menu (at Lower Right) |
Dedicated One-Touch RAW Button: | Yes |
PC Sync Socket: | Yes |
IR Remote Control: | Yes, Front and Rear Receivers |
I/O Ports: | Left: DC In, PC/AV, HDMI Out, Mic In; Right: Cable Switch Connector |
Battery: | New Type High Capacity Rechargeable Type D-LI90, 7.4V/1900mAh (Nominal), Support up to 980 Shots Without Flash |
Storage Media: | SD and SDHC Cards |
Dimensions: | 130.5(W) x 96.5(H) x 72.5(D) mm (5.1 x 3.8 x 2.9 inches) |
Weight: | 670g (22.9 oz.), Body Only (Without Battery and SD Card) 750g (26.5 oz.), Loaded and Ready (With Battery and SD Card) |
Software: | Pentax Photo Laboratory (with SILKYPIX RAW-data processing engine developed by Ichikawa Soft Laboratory), Pentax Photo Browser and Two Other Utilities |
Kit Lens: | DA 18-55/3.5-5.6 AL WR (Water/eather Resistant) |
Optional Accessory: | Vertical Battery Grip D-BG4, Weather-Sealed and Cold-Resistant, Support Either Another D-LI90 or Six AA Batteries, Provision of Extra Shutter-Release Button, Preview Lever, e-Dials, AE-Lock, Green Button and AF Button |


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Show All Answers
Yes, this event will take place, rain or shine.
Yes. Tickets are $5 each or $20 for a family of up to 6. Tickets may be purchased on site with cash or via our eventbrite link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/justin-fall-fest-tickets-167467137717
Children under 3 are free.
Tickets can be purchased on-site with cash (no bills over $50) or via our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/justin-fall-fest-tickets-167467137717
Please show your order/confirmation email to the gate attendants. Tickets will be provided accordingly.
Sponsors must provide names of attendees to event organizers prior to October 2 in order for tickets to be distributed at the gate. If your name has been supplied, please check in at the gate and tickets will be provided accordingly. If you are unsure, please email firstname.lastname@example.com
Some vendors may have credit card capabilities, but no items will be available for purchase from the city via credit cards on site. This includes entrance tickets, raffle tickets and tee shirt sales as well as donations. You may purchase all items with cash by visiting the Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/justin-fall-fest-tickets-167467137717
ATMs will not be available on site. There are several within a 2 mile radius should you wish to withdraw cash prior to the event.
Signup for Mutton Busting will take place from 1-2:30 p.m. on site at the Rodeo Arena.
Signup for Mutton Busting will take place from 1-2:30 p.m. on site at the Rodeo Arena. Participants must meet height and weight restrictions as determined by Chute 2 Productions on-site.
Mutton busting is $25 per participant, cash and credit cards accepted.
Yes, children participating will be provided a vest and helmet.
Attendees may park in parking lots designated event parking, as shown on the map at cityofjustin.com/fallfest. Vendor parking and reserved parking may not be used by attendees. DO NOT park anywhere that would impede exits or entrances to driveways, parking lots or fire lanes.
The following contests will be held at Justin Fall Fest: Pumpkin Carving Contest, Pumpkin Dessert Contest and Dog Costume Contest. The pumpkin carving and pumpkin dessert contest submissions will take place before Saturday, October 2. Details on entering can be found at cityofjustin.com/fallfest. The dog costume contest may be entered the day of the event. Details on entering can be found at cityofjustin.com/fallfest.
Raffle tickets are $3 each or 4 for $10.
Raffle tickets may be purchased with cash on-site (no bills over $50) or via our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/justin-fall-fest-tickets-167467137717
Raffle winners will be contacted via phone and posted on our social media outlets. Prizes may be picked up before 6 p.m. on October 2 at the contest tent OR must be picked up from City Hall. All winners will be asked to verify their phone number in order to pick up their prize.


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The total worldwide online search market grew 46% in December 2009 compared to December 2008, according to the latest qSearch data from digital research firm comScore, Inc.
US, China Lead in Total Number of Searches
During December 2009, Internet users conducted 131.3 billion online searches, compared to 89.7 billion online searches in December 2008. The US led all countries in total online searches, conducting 22.8 billion. This represents 22% growth from 18.7 billion in December 2008.
China ranked second with 13.3 billion searches, a 13% increase from 11.8 billion a year earlier. Japan came in at number three, growing 48% from 6.2 billion to 9.2 billion searches, followed by the UK, which grew 35% from 4.6 billion to 6.2 billion searches.
Russia, France Lead in Search Growth
Russia experienced the highest percentage of online search growth during December 2009, shooting up 92% from 1.7 billion to 3.3 billion searches. Russia had the tenth-largest number of total searches for the month. Following Russia was France, which grew 61% from 3.4 to 5.4 billion searches. France had the seventh-highest monthly online search total.
Brazil ranked third in online search growth, increasing 53% from 2.4 billion to 3.8 billion searches, which placed it eighth in total number of online searches. Japan had the fourth-highest search growth percentage for December 2009.
Google Dominates Total Number of Searches
Google Sites was by far the most popular search property during December 2009, collecting 87.8 billion searches worldwide, a 58% increase from 55.6 billion in December 2008. Its closest competitor, Yahoo Sites, collected 9.4 billion searches worldwide, a 13% increase from December 2008. Rounding out the top five were Chinese search engine Baidu.com, growing 7% from 8 billion to 8.5 billion searches, Microsoft Sites, growing 70% from 2.4 billion to 4.1 billion searches, and eBay, growing 58% from 1.3 billion to 2.1 billion searches.
Yandex Leads Growth
Matching the explosive growth of online searches in its home country, Russian search engine Yandex had the highest growth of any search property during 2009, growing 91% from 992 million to 1.9 billion searches. Microsoft Sites came in with the second-highest growth percentage, followed by Google Sites. Social networking site Facebook.com had the fourth highest percentage of growth for the month, rising 54% from 1 billion to 1.6 billion searches. Ask Network followed with 43% growth, increasing from 1 billion to 1.5 billion searches. One search property, Alibaba.com Corporation, experienced negative growth, dropping 1% from 1.1 billion searches in December 2008 to 1 billion searches in December 2009.
US Search Behavior Matches Global Behavior
US internet users showed similar online search preferences during December 2009 as the global population did. According to previously released comScore qSearch data, Google Sites led the US search market pack in December with 65.7% of the searches conducted, or almost 9.7 billion of a total 14.7 billion US searches conducted on the most popular US search engines. Bing, the primary search property of Microsoft Sites, displayed impressive US growth during the month, increasing its query volume 6% from November 2009 to nearly 1.4 billion searches, almost 10% of the total.


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RIP Ariana Grande's Ponytail: An Obituary (2014 — 2018)
Ariana Grande's signature high ponytail was pronounced dead Thursday (Nov. 15). She was 4 years old.
Born around 2014, Ariana's ponytail became a fashion icon in Hollywood over the past few years after the pop star began toting her around everywhere she went, from award show performances to concerts and talk show appearances.
Grande first introduced her high ponytail — which she once told Elle may have a "telepathic connection" to fans — to the world after years of dying her hair left it brittle, damaged and "ratchet," according to the "breathin'" singer's own account.
"I wear it in a pony tail because my actual hair is so broken that it looks absolutely ratchet and absurd when I let it down," she explained in a Facebook post at the time. "It's all that works for now (AND I'm comfortable for the first time in years)."
The damage was a result of Grande bleaching and dying her hair red "every other week for the first 4 years of playing Cat" on Nickelodeon's Sam & Cat. Two years later, Grande was still wearing her hair high in the sky and Arianators were falling more in love with each hair flip. Speaking with Byrdie about her then-new signature style, the singer said she never imagined her ponytail would take on a fandom of its own.
"I had no idea that it was going to become, like, a thing," she said. "It's how I like my hair. It's how I've always liked my hair...It brings me so much joy, honestly."
Grande briefly switched up her look in April 2018, repositioning her ponytail from the top of her head to the bottom for the "no tears left to cry" video and related promotional images. Fans were uneasy about the subtle change and sensed she may be parting ways with the style soon, though they had no idea the change would be so sudden or drastic.
The ponytail persevered, making its way back to the crown of Grande's head in the days that followed.
The ponytail became even more of a sensation when she became a third wheel in the singer's whirlwind relationship with Pete Davidson, often following the young couple everywhere they went, especially shopping in New York City.
In September 2018, the hairstyle made headlines when it was revealed Ariana's ponytail was actually a sentient, fully autonomous being during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She became a national hero after single-handedly (hairily?) stopping a mugger in his tracks.
Tragically, Ariana's trusty ponytail was replaced Thursday when the pop star debut a new bob on Instagram.
Naturally, fans of the style icon were gutted by the ponytail's sudden passing. Many of them have been mourning for her on social media since.
"GIRL WHY WHYYY," one fan questioned in a comment.
"Your ponytail is gone," another wrote, adding a sad emoji. "But I'm obsessed w your new hair!!!!!"
Grande's ponytail may be gone for now, but she's certainly not forgotten. Here's hoping this isn't a firm "thank u, next," but rather a "see u later." After all, something tells us we'll be seeing her again.


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Good morning. This week, Americans are celebrating the 226th anniversary of our independence. On the Fourth of July, we count our blessings, and there are so many to count.
We are thankful for the families that share our life in this land of liberty. We're thankful for the opportunities given to us every day in this country. We are thankful for our freedom, the freedom declared by the Founding Fathers, defended by many generations, and granted to each one of us by Almighty God.
Americans know that our country did not come about by chance. Our Nation was first designed as a colony, serving an empire and answering to a king. The Founders had other things in mind. In the summer of 1776, they declared that these colonies "are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States." All Americans can draw a straight line from the free lives we lead today to that one moment when the world changed forever.
From that day in 1776, freedom has had a home and a defender. Unlike any other country, America came into the world with a message for mankind—that all are created equal and all are meant to be free.
There is no American race; there's only an American creed. We believe in the dignity and rights of every person. We believe in equal justice, limited government, and the rule of law, personal responsibility and tolerance toward others. This creed of freedom and equality has lifted the lives of millions of Americans, of citizens by birth and citizens by choice. This creed draws our friends to us, sets our enemies against us, and always inspires the best that is in us.
In this 226th year of our independence, we have seen that American patriotism is still a living faith. We love our country only more when she is threatened. America is the most diverse Nation on Earth. Yet, in a moment we discovered again that we are a single people; we share the same allegiance; we live under the same flag; and when you strike one American, you strike us all.
More than ever in the lifetimes of most Americans, our flag stands for a true united country. We've been united in our grief, and we are united in our resolve to protect our people and defeat the enemies of freedom. At this hour, more than 60,000 American troops are deployed around the world in the war against terror. Many of you have family members serving in the military. Wherever they are stationed, this Nation is depending on them, and you can be proud of them.
America's service men and women and our veterans know better than anyone that our love for country is shown in works. That spirit of service is alive and strong in America today. As we fight a war abroad, at home Americans are answering the call of service, giving their time and energy to causes greater than self-interest. This Nation is confronting a terrible evil, and we are overcoming evil with good.
Today, as much as ever before, America bears the hopes of the world. Yet, from the day of our founding, America's own great hope has never been in ourselves alone. The Founders humbly sought the wisdom and the blessing of Divine Providence. May we always live by that same trust, and may God continue to watch over the United States of America.
Thank you for listening.
NOTE: The address was recorded at 10:17 a.m. on July 3 in the Cabinet Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 6. The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on July 5 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this address.
George W. Bush, The President's Radio Address Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/215288


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Marilau Ricaud welcomes you to the BEST MEXICAN COOKING SCHOOL in San Miguel de Allende, featuring 200 years of Mexican traditions
¡Hola y muy bienvenidos! I love sharing my heritage of classical Mexican home cooking with my students. From my earliest years, I watched my mother, my aunts and grandparents in the kitchen. I'm happy to design an intensive one-on-one session or series of classes for you, or, if you'd rather be part of a group, we can arrange that, too. I take pride in customizing my classes to suit the needs of all students in my well-equipped kitchen classroom, with a maximum of 10 students per class to insure individualized attention to each. Your class can be from Monday to Friday, starting at 10:00 am. A special schedule can be arranged for private groups. A minimum number students apply for each class.
Basic Techniques Learn how to prepare nopales (cactus pads), how capeado (egg-white batter) is used, how to prepare dry and fresh chiles for different dishes, and many other tips. Create your own class! Mix and match, make up your own menu. You decide what dishes and/or techniques you want to learn.
For the Culinary Professional An intensive introduction to Mexican cuisine. This is a brief on a hands-on cooking class in my Kitchen School This is a Live Testimonial. You may see more Video Testimonials Want to know more? Read this article about our cooking school:
Mexican Cooking with Maria by Rachel Laudan Atención newspaper, San Miguel de Allende, México
San Miguel is a wonderful place to live but it isn't exactly one of the renowned centers for traditional Mexican food. As I spend my time writing about food and its history, I've always felt a little guilty that I wasn't heading off for Puebla, Oaxaca, Michoacán and Veracruz, famous for their culinary traditions, instead of enjoying the good life in Guanajuato. That's not to say that you can't eat really well here. I've enjoyed wonderful meals in both homes and restaurants. But when visitors turn up expecting me to put them on the inside track to the best of Mexican food, I have found myself shuffling my feet and apologizing for not being in one of the shrines of Mexican cooking. Read more....


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The Super Bowl is second only to Thanksgiving for eating calorie-laden foods. To give you some perspective, what follows are a few of your favorite big game foods and what it costs to burn them off.
Handful of Pita Chips With Artichoke Dip = Running 141 Football Fields
Yes, 141 football fields; each one is 100 yards, and you would have to run at an average speed of 5 mph (the average walking pace is about 3 mph). Each chip is 13 calories, plus just 1 tablespoon of dip is 80 calories.That's a total of about 93 calories for each chip.
Diet Pro: Make your own 100 percent whole-wheat pita chips, use salsa instead of artichoke dip.
Four Domino's Stuffed Cheesy Bacon Jalapeno Breadsticks = 193 Touchdown Dances in the End Zone
While the stuffed cheese bread is probably very tasty, it's also a calorie killer at 160 calories per piece, or 640 calories for four.
Diet Pro: Toast 100 percent whole-wheat pita bread with butter spray and Parmesan cheese. Of course, it won't be the same, but it's low in calories and will taste great.
Two Slice of Domino's Bacon Cheeseburger Feast Hand-Tossed Pizza (16 inches) = 209 Minutes Performing in a Marching Band.
Pizza AND a cheeseburger what will they think of next? Each slice is 490 calories, but it is hand tossed.
Diet Pro: Try thin-crust pizza, and if you really want to be super healthy, how about getting pizza without the cheese—just add your own Parmesan.
Half of a White Castle "Crave Case" With Cheese = Face Painting 111 Wild Fans
These are sliders with cheese. Each slider is 170 calories, and there are 30 in a case. That's 2,550 calories for 15, but they're not very large.
Diet Pro: How about having just one or two? If that's not possible, your best bet is NOT to go to White Castle. You could also make your own burgers — white meat turkey if you really want to be super healthy, or at the very least very lean ground meat.
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This effect can generate an image in high resolution
You can love or hate him however, it is impossible to ignore him. This is exactly why we decided to dedicate our new effect to the new US president – Mr Donald Trump. Using this effect, you will be able to make the president to sign a new order or show your photo to the whole world. It's time to engage with your creative side.


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Goodbye to the Blog!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 1:21 AM
So, with some regret, I hereby retire this blog. It did me a lot of good in its time, but all things must come to an end. In the new year, I may get some time to post on my guitar blog, but I'm making no promises. But for now, cheerio to the Blogosphere. It's been real.
Oh, and Happy New Year!
Labels: baboon's arse, blogs, life


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Legendary Nigerian footballer and philanthropist, Nwankwo Kanu, is launching the biggest lotto in Africa to raise funds for the Kanu Heart Foundation (KHF) and help build a specialist cardiac hospital in Abuja.
The KHF lotto offers a jackpot starting at N1 billion and will be run in conjunction with AfroMillonsLotto It offers twice-weekly draws with bigger jackpots than all the lotteries in Nigeria combined, as well as being the largest jackpot anywhere in Africa. Twenty percent of every ticket sold will go directly to KHF to help it continue its work ensuring underprivileged children across Africa with heart problems get the treatment they need. Since its launch in 2000, KHF has helped not just people in Nigeria, but also paid for 538 children to be treated at facilities throughout the world. Commenting on the lotto initiative, Kanu said: "We are excited to launch this major fund-raising initiative for the Kanu Heart Foundation and hope people support it by buying tickets, helping us to build a new heart hospital for Nigeria." "Not only could people change their own life with the potential to win the jackpot of over N1 billion, they can help to change the lives of other people by supporting our Foundation". The first KHF.AfroMillionsLotto.com draw takes place on Wednesday 18th October and the website also offers nine, 'Candy Crush' style, Instant Win games, which can be played for fun or to win cash prizes of up to N12 million. If there isn't a jackpot winner, the prize money rolls over, increasing by N100 million with each draw until it reaches a maximum of over N2 billion. (APO) |


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NEOSHO, Mo. — The preference for goat meat in the U.S. is rapidly increasing according to Dr. Jodie Pennington, small ruminant educator with Lincoln University Extension.
"This increase in consumption is primarily related to a rapidly growing population from traditional goat consuming residents," said Pennington.
Presently, 16 percent of the U.S. population is Hispanic and 4 percent of the population is Asian. The Hispanic population in the U.S. has grown five-fold since 1970.
"The Hispanic population should provide a significant consumer base for goat meat products, particularly fresh goat meat served around festivals or significant occasions," said Pennington.
Hispanic interest
Since many Hispanics are Christian, and many are Catholic, producers can expect the highest consumption periods of goat meat for Hispanics, especially Mexicans, to be around Christmas, New Years and Easter, according to Pennington.
"With Cinco de Mayo being May 5, it also increases goat meat consumption by Mexicans during the period surrounding Easter," said Pennington.
For those celebrating the Western or traditional Easter, the ideal goat is a milk-fed kid weighing 30 pounds. For those celebrating the Eastern, Orthodox or Greek Easter (which generally coincides with, or follows, the Western Easter), a slightly larger, 35-pound milk-fed kid is preferred.
However, larger goats are also acceptable but may sell for slightly less per pound.
"The Latino market prefers a suckling kid weighing 20-35 pounds with larger kids preferred for pit barbecuing," said Pennington.
Muslim interest
The U.S. is also experiencing growth in religious groups that prefer goat meat, particularly those of the Muslim/Islam faith. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar which lasts for 29 or 30 days.
Festival meals take place each night since no food is consumed between sunrise and sunset. Male or female kids that are less than one year old and weigh 60 pounds are desired, but weaned kids between 45-120 pounds may be acceptable.
For the past few years, Ramadan has coincided with September-November, the months when most kids are weaned and sold.
Traditionally, this also is the time when prices fall due to seasonal weaning and increases in numbers sold.
However, for the next few years, Ramadan will be earlier in the calendar year, being on July 20 in 2012 and moving 11 days earlier each year.
"Muslim holidays are based on the lunar calendar which is 11 days less than our traditional solar calendar. How the movement of Ramadan toward summer and spring months will affect fall goat prices remains to be seen," said Pennington.
The Festival of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) is a Muslim market for blemish-free yearlings, preferably uncastrated bucks. Large kids weighing 60-100 pounds may be acceptable. The Festival of Harvest was Oct. 18 this year and futures dates are Oct. 26, 2012, and Oct. 5, 2013.
Seaon's impact
"Goats tend to be seasonal breeders, coming into heat as daylight shortens from late August to early January.
"Most kids are born in late winter to early spring and weaned in the late summer or fall. This creates a market kid shortage during the late winter and early spring months, and over-supplies the market during late summer and fall," said Pennington.
Easter (the Western or traditional Easter) has the strongest goat meat demand in the United States.
Pennington said market kid and goat meat prices tend to reach their peak just before the Western Easter (March-April), drop significantly during June, continue trending downward through October-November, then begin rising toward the Christmas season (December).
Fresh goat meat shortages force the prices to continue upward until they peak again during the Easter season (March-April).
"How the changing dates of Ramadan and the increased demand for goat meat will affect the best times to market goats remains to be determined. Yet, producers should plan their marketing strategies around the traditional ethnic holidays — which means marketing two to four weeks before those holidays," said Pennington.
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The Line Method
The Line Method is a boutique personal training studio in the heart of Washington, DC.
We are movement instructors who are passionate about blending methodologies to build functional strength, increase mobility, and restore your body.
Washington commonly refers to: Washington (state), United States Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States Federal government of the United States (metonym) Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United StatesWashington may also refer to: == Places == === England === Washington, Tyne and Wear, a new town Washington Old Hall, ancestral home of the family of George Washington Washington, West Sussex, a village and civil parish === Greenland === Cape Washington, Greenland Washington Land === Philippines === New Washington, Aklan, a municipality Washington, a barangay in Catarman, Northern Samar Washington, a barangay in Escalante, Negros Occidental Washington, a barangay in San Jacinto, Masbate Washington, a barangay in Surigao City === United States === Washington, Wisconsin (disambiguation) Fort Washington (disambiguation) Lake Washington (disambiguation) Mount Washington (disambiguation) Port Washington (disambiguation) Washington Avenue (disambiguation) Washington Boulevard (disambiguation) Washington Bridge (disambiguation) Washington County (disambiguation) Washington district (disambiguation) Washington Island (disambiguation) Washington Park (disambiguation) Washington Square (disambiguation) Washington Street (disambiguation) Washington Township (disambiguation) Washington Valley (disambiguation) ==== Cities and communities ==== Washington, Alabama Washington, Arkansas Washington, California, in Nevada County Washington, Yolo County, California Washington, Connecticut Washington, Georgia Washington, Illinois Washington, Indiana Washington, Iowa Washington, Kansas Washington, Kentucky Washington, Louisiana Washington, Maine Washington, Massachusetts Washington, Michigan, an unincorporated community in Washington Township Washington, Mississippi Washington, Missouri Washington, Nebraska Washington, New Hampshire Washington, New Jersey Washington, New York Washington, North Carolina Washington, Oklahoma Washington, Pennsylvania Fort Washington, Pennsylvania Washington, Utah Washington, Vermont Washington, Virginia Washington, West Virginia Washington Court House, Ohio Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas Washington Square (Philadelphia) Washington Square West, Philadelphia === Elsewhere === Washington Escarpment, Antarctica Washington, Ontario, Canada Washington Island (French Polynesia) Washington Island (Kiribati) Washington, Guyana, a community in Mahaica-Berbice, Guyana == Education == === Higher education === George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Harold Washington College, Chicago, Illinois University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia University of Washington, Seattle, Washington Washington College (California), formerly in Irvington, Fremont, California Washington College (Pennsylvania), one of the original colleges that formed Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland Washington College, Connecticut, the original name of Trinity College Washington College of Law, at American University, Washington, D.C. Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia Washington Female Seminary, Washington, Pennsylvania Washington International University, unaccredited institution in the British Virgin Islands Washington State University, Pullman, Washington Washington University (medical school), a defunct institution formerly in Baltimore, Maryland Washington University of Barbados, named as part of an international medical school scam Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri === Secondary education === Lake Washington High School, Kirkland, Washington Washington Academy (disambiguation) Washington College Academy, Limestone, Tennessee Booker T. Washington High School (disambiguation) George Washington High School (disambiguation) Washington County High School (disambiguation) Washington High School (disambiguation) Washington International School, Washington, D.C. Washington School (disambiguation) == People == Washington (name), a given name or surname shared by several people Washington (musician), the stage name of Australian musician Megan Washington Washington (footballer, born 1953), full name Washington Luiz de Paula, Brazilian football forward Washington (footballer, born 1 April 1975), full name Washington Stecanela Cerqueira, Brazilian football manager and former striker Washington (footballer, born 10 April 1975), full name Washington Luiz Pereira dos Santos, Brazilian football striker Washington (footballer, born August 1978), full name Washington Luiz Mascarenhas Silva, Brazilian football forward Washington (footballer, born November 1978), full name Washington Luigi Garcia, Brazilian football forward Washington (footballer, born 1985), full name Washington Roberto Mariano da Silva, Brazilian football striker Washington (footballer, born May 1986), full name Washington de Mesquista Ferreira, Brazilian football striker Washington (footballer, born November 1986), full name Cezar Washington Alves Portela, Brazilian football midfielder Washington (footballer, born 1989), full name Washinton Santana da Silva, Brazilian football midfielder == Sports == === In the Washington D.C. metropolitan area === Washington Capitals, professional ice hockey team of the National Hockey League Washington Nationals, professional baseball team of Major League Baseball Washington Mystics, professional basketball team of the Women's National Basketball Association Washington Commanders, formerly Washington Redskins, professional American football team of the National Football League Washington Wizards, professional basketball team of the National Basketball Association === In Washington (state) === Washington Huskies, athletic teams of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA Washington State Cougars, athletic teams of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, USA === Elsewhere === Washington F.C., a football club based in Washington, Tyne and Wear, England Washington University Bears, athletic teams of Washington University in St.
Anacostia, Arboretum, Berkley, Brightwood, Brightwood Park, Brookland, Buena Vista, Capitol View, Carver / Langston, Cathedral Heights, Colonial Village, Columbia Heights, Congress Heights, Crestwood, Deanwood


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During his days as a senior executive at Fidelity Investments, Robert C. Pozen was wary of mutual funds with too few stocks. "Ex-post we are all geniuses, but ex-ante it is pretty hard to figure out which ones are going to go up and which are going to go down," he says. Always a "great believer in diversification," Pozen now teaches at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. And, he says, the importance of a broad portfolio has since been highlighted by what happened at Enron, where a heavy concentration of company stock in employee 401(k) plans is causing thousands to lose their life savings.
Diversification may also be a key to Social Security reform, he says. As a member of President George W. Bush's commission to overhaul the system, Pozen, 55, helped design the three options noted in the commission report in January — options allowing participants to divert up to 4 percentage points of the 12.4 percent payroll tax into private investment accounts. The 16-member panel was widely criticized as being stacked with proponents of private accounts, but Pozen insists that Social Security's future solvency depends on a combination of structural reforms and diversified personal accounts.
A former Securities and Exchange Commission official, Pozen is dismayed that Corporate America is "noticeably silent" on the subject. "This is a serious problem, and it is going to impact all CFOs pretty soon," he says, noting, for example, that changing benefit patterns will cause workers to retire later. Social Security reform will reverberate through the 2002 elections, "and business has a choice to be a player or not on this question."
During a 15-year Fidelity career that started as general counsel and ended as vice chairman and president of the management and research unit of the $900 billion asset giant, Pozen was often the public spokesperson for the notoriously secretive firm. While widely credited with orchestrating Fidelity's turnaround in the 1990s, he announced his departure by "mutual decision" from the family-owned firm when Abigail Johnson, daughter of CEO Edward "Ned" Johnson, was tapped to head Fidelity Management last May.
Pozen, who recently published the second edition ofThe Mutual Fund Business, sat down with CFO deputy editor Lori Calabro to discuss the Social Security commission's findings and the current state of retirement benefits.
You were appointed to the Social Security commission last May. What was the commission's specific charge?
There was a lot of ambiguity about the charge. We viewed it as making the system move toward solvency, and using personal accounts as part of that strategy. Obviously, there is a group that hates personal accounts and doesn't want to do them at all. Another group thinks if you only have a personal account, then that will solve everything. The commission said neither side is right. What you need is a combination of structural reforms in the system with a personal account.
The commission came up with three options. Are you partial to any one?
The first option is just a throwaway. It's a personal account without any change in the system, and that's not a serious proposal. Options two and three are both very serious; they help the system get back to solvency and allow people to have personal accounts as a way to get back toward future scheduled benefits. But neither reduces the current levels of benefits.
Option two says we are going to slow the rate of growth of benefits by moving from wage indexing to price indexing, which reduces [the traditional benefit] about 2 percent of payroll. Then it allows individuals to put up to $1,000 in their own account. Because of the higher return [possible], that will get them roughly toward the same scheduled benefit level.
Option three slows the rate of growth in benefits through longevity indexing. That means as people live longer, their benefits will be adjusted. And in particular, it means if people choose to retire early, they are going to take a hit. We've had an incredible trend in the United States — between 1970 and 1990, the number of people retiring early has zoomed, and it's about 60 percent today. That's very difficult for the system. [Longevity indexing] itself is worth about 1.2 percent of payroll. And in this model, because of higher returns from the personal accounts plus new revenues, expected benefits will exceed scheduled benefits.
Did you develop three plans mostly to make the findings politically palatable?
We wanted to show that there are different ways to produce reform. We also imposed on ourselves some very tough [investment] constraints. We were required by the chief actuary to use what most people would think of as a relatively modest return. We used a portfolio of 50 percent stocks and 50 percent bonds, with a 4.6 percent real return. In addition — and this relates to Enron — we [opted] not to allow anyone to put all their money in one stock. You can only put money in a diversified pool.
Still, critics will say that the benefits are not guaranteed the way they are now under Social Security.
There is a misconception that scheduled benefits are guaranteed. They are not. Congress can change them at any time. And while it's impossible to eliminate all risk, what we are talking about is people investing over 30 or 40 years. I have run the numbers for every 20-, 30-, and 40-year period over the past 50 years, eliminating the very puffy years of 1997 through 1999. And in every period, the equity market did better than the Treasury bond rate. But we go further: we propose a Treasury bond pool, so that if people just want to get the Treasury rate, they can. And if they get the Treasury rate, they will be doing better than they would now under Social Security.
You were charged with coming up with plans that wouldn't increase taxes or reduce benefits. Both those things ended up in the results. What happened?
I don't think that's quite correct. First of all, we were charged with not reducing benefits for people in retirement or near retirement. That's why we did not address COLAs [cost-of-living adjustments]. We were not prohibited from slowing down the growth in benefits. Remember, every person will do as well, CPI adjusted, in 2050 as they do now. But they won't grow their benefits as fast.
Second, we all agreed that we would not raise the payroll tax rate, because 12.4 percent is very high. The commission discussed whether the terms of its executive order precluded an increase in the payroll tax base, and, in the end, the White House ruled that it was precluded. In the third plan, there is a proposal to have dedicated revenues to Social Security, but it leaves it up to Congress to decide what type of tax would be used to get that revenue.
What extra burdens will these plans impose on companies?
We were adamant that there be no extra burden on employers; that they'd continue to send in payroll taxes just like they do now. It would be up to the government — through a new Federal Reserve-like entity for pensions — to take those monies and put a certain percentage in a holding investment, like a money market fund or Treasury bond. Then, at the end of the year, that entity would put the money into the investment choices of the individual.
What will it take for business to get behind Social Security reform?
Business doesn't understand what is going to happen if there is no Social Security reform. Look at the budget for this coming year. Assuming we have no new stimulus package, it's roughly about zeroed out. But the accounting is questionable, because implicit in that zero is $189 billion from an annual surplus from Social Security. That surplus, however, is going to dwindle, and ultimately go negative in 2016. Then what are the implications?
Well, first, a lot of CFOs probably want various types of government-funded programs — more money into FDA processing or in developing technologies. Just think of the situation when this $189 billion cushion isn't there. It will be very difficult to get new spending programs.
Second, think about tax reform. Remember when we had big deficits and whenever you went to Congress for tax reform they said you had to "pay for it"? And they didn't mean to "pay for it" by increasing the taxes on someone else's industry. So again, without Social Security reform, there's going to be tremendous difficulty in getting further tax cuts.
Third, there are still many defined benefit plans around, and roughly 50 percent are integrated with Social Security. That is, they calculate what your total benefit is and subtract your Social Security benefit to determine your defined benefit. Now, suppose people become uncertain about whether they will get Social Security. We know that if nothing is done by 2038, Social Security benefits will be cut by roughly 28 percent. This will pose a significant long-term problem for integrated defined-benefit plans.
Were you surprised at criticism leveled at the commission? The president of the AFL-CIO called your report "a radical plan to dismantle Social Security."
The PR at the beginning was terrible. There were pickets at our first meeting, before we even said a word. But it's not a radical plan to dismantle Social Security; it's taking a small portion of Social Security and giving people the choice of getting a better return. His is what I call the "do-nothing plan." What's his suggestion?
I'm afraid Social Security is a very polarizing issue. And my personal belief is that if there is not Social Security reform by 2011, when the baby boom goes into retirement, we won't see it until 2038. The cardinal rule is you can't touch people's benefits once they go into retirement.
How do you think the Enron situation is going to affect Social Security reform?
It should reinforce the commission's conclusions. There is a case where all the money was put in one spot — Enron stock. And we kept saying: diversification, diversification, diversification.
Besides diversification, what should be done to prevent future 401(k) debacles?
Employee participants should be able to sell employer stock that's given as a match. There should be some reasonable waiting period, say a year. But Enron didn't let employees sell until they were 50.
Second, there probably would have to be amendments to ESOPs, KSOPs, and [related] tax provisions. They should state that if some employees sell the stock and the plan goes below a certain amount, the firm doesn't lose the whole tax benefit of the ESOP or KSOP. That shouldn't be the price. The combination of those ideas would go a long way toward solving the problem.
Enron obviously has Congress riled up. They are looking at the percentage of company stock in plans, lockdowns, and the idea of giving financial advice to employees. Does it make you nervous that Congress is getting involved?
It always makes me nervous when Congress responds to a crisis. And if Congress understood that some of these proposals might decrease employer matches, they wouldn't think they were such good ideas.
Do you foresee the uproar over Enron leading Congress to increase senior management's fiduciary responsibilities?
I doubt there will be legislation. The courts will be the ones to decide. But it's the concern corporate officials will have about their [potential] liabilities that will change their attitudes [on fiduciary responsibility].
Any chance 401(k) changes will be a hot issue this proxy season?
Auditor assignments will be a hot issue, and maybe employer stock, but not management of 401(k)s.


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There has been a lot of interest in the analytics community in visualizing the output of an Azure Machine Learning model inside Power BI. To add to the challenge, it would also be great to operationalize Azure ML models through the Power BI service. Imagine if you could have Power BI regularly bring in the latest output of your fraud model or the sentiment for recent Tweets about your products. The following tutorial will outline a proposed approach for doing just that.
For the purpose of this tutorial we will assume your data is sitting inside an Azure SQL database. You can tailor this example to the data source of your choice, like a local CSV or an on-premises SQL. The secret sauce for this tutorial is the R integration inside Power BI, which acts as a glue between the two services. On top of Power BI and an Azure ML subscription, you will therefore also need to download R and (optional but recommended) an R GUI like RStudio or RevR. In this example we will be using RStudio.
This example will use the Titanic dataset, a well-known tutorial dataset. The purpose will be to use data like gender, passenger class, and departure port to predict how likely someone would have been to survive the Titanic disaster.
By the end of the tutorial we will have set up the following workflow:
The high level steps we will be performing are as follows:
- Use R to extract data out of Azure SQL that has not yet been scored by our ML model
- Use R to call the Azure ML web service and send it the unscored data
- Write the output of the Azure ML model back into SQL
- Use R to read scored data into Power BI
- Publish the Power BI file to the Power BI service
- Schedule a refresh of the data using the Personal Gateway (which triggers a scheduled re-run of our R script and brings in new predictions)
Set up Azure SQL
We will start out with configuring our SQL environment. If you are starting from scratch please log into the Azure portal and spin up a new Azure SQL and database. You will also need to safelist your server's IP address so that R is able to read and write data into the database. If you have an existing environment with existing data, feel free to use that instead.
Once your Azure SQL is all ready to go you will need to connect and create two tables: one for your original data and the other for the output of the machine learning model. The schema of the two tables is almost identical, with Table #2 simply having a 'Scored Probabilities' column appended to the end of it. If you are starting out with existing data, then please just create a blank second table using the above schema definition.
If you want to follow the Titanic tutorial we will need to get some data into our newly created Azure SQL table. A quick and easy way to do that is to actually use Azure ML's 'Write' module and the Titanic dataset. Run the following experiment inside Azure ML to quickly get some data into your SQL:
Publish Azure ML experiment
Fortunately, there already exists a Titanic tutorial experiment inside Azure ML and so we will be able to leverage that for this tutorial. You can find it here:
Once you have access to the experiment, run it to ensure everything is working correctly. You can go ahead and hit the 'Set up Web Service' at the bottom of the screen.
You should now be in front of your predictive experiment. We will need to make a couple of tweaks in order to have our web service write our newly calculated Scored Probabilities into our SQL:
- In our predictive experiment, the first step of the flow drops four columns. We will move this step to the bottom of the workflow, right after the last 'Edit Metadata' module and just before the 'Score Model' module.
- We will then add another 'Select Columns' module and attach it to the last 'Edit Metadata' module. We will drop everything apart from 'PassengerId', 'Name', 'Cabin' and 'Ticket'
- We will attach it to an 'Add Columns' module and bring back the rest of our data along with the newly calculated 'Scored Probabilities'.
- Finally, we will use the 'Export Data' module to move our data back into our Azure SQL table. Please make sure you write it into your second database table reserved for the ML experiment output.
Call Azure ML web service using R
Now that you have configured your experiment so it writes back to SQL, we can write our R script to call the Azure ML web service. Azure ML actually helps you out quite a bit here by providing sample code you can use. From the web services tag, navigate to the Request/Response link and navigate all the way to the bottom of the page. There you will find the sample R code you can use to get you started.
If you are using SQL you will need to create an ODBC connection between R and SQL. Gregory Vandenbrouck has written a great tutorial on how to do that which you can find here:
We will use our R code to do the following:
- Bring in your SQL data which hasn't yet been scored
- Call the Azure ML web service to score the new data
- Read data in from your SQL table (which our Azure ML experiment has outputted results into)
In order to do this, you will need to modify the provided R cod. You can use my existing R code to help out with this as it can be tricky, especially if you aren't too familiar with R. Then do the following:
- Install and call the libraries needed for the solution (RODBC, RCurl, Rjson).
- Establish a connection to your SQL using the ROBC package (or connect to your preferred data source). I recommend you do an inner join between your two tables and bring in all the records which exist in Table 1 but not in Table 2 (i.e. records that have not gone through your model yet).
- Azure ML requires data to be in a very specific list form instead of the expected data frame format. Here is a quick function that can help you transform your dataframe into the required format:
createList <- function(dataset)
temp <- apply(dataset, 1, function(x) as.vector(paste(x, sep = "")))
colnames(temp) <- NULL
temp <- apply(temp, 2, function(x) as.list(x))
- Edit the sample R code and replace the API key and url placeholders with details from your own experiment.
- Finally, you will need to connect to your SQL again and bring in data from your second table which includes all previous + freshly scored data.
Author & Publish Power BI Report
You are now ready to connect to your data inside Power BI! Select the R Get Data connector and paste in your newly created R script.
Go ahead, get creative and author some insightful Power BI reports, like my example report. Once you are happy with your report you can publish it into the Power BI service by selecting the Publish button on the top ribbon.
Scheduling a Power BI refresh
You are almost done! The final step is to schedule a refresh of your data so you can always get the latest predictions flowing in. In order for a refresh to work, you will need to enable the Power BI Personal Gateway.
The Power BI Gateway allows the Power BI Service to connect to on-premises sources like your SQL Server or in this particular case an R script. Depending on your refresh schedule, Power BI will trigger a re-run of your R script (locally) and bring in the most up to date data.
For instructions on what the personal gateway is and how to set it up, use this link:
You should now be all set. Have any questions, feedback or suggested improvements on the approach? Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear what you think!


text: A prominent leader of pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine resigned his post Thursday as fighting flared there, with militants reportedly downing a Ukrainian military plane. Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, told reporters he was stepping down and handing over power to Alexander Zakharchenko, a little-known militia commander. As Ukrainian forces rapidly advance toward the key rebel-controlled city and Russia builds up forces along the border, the sudden resignation leaves a number of questions about the volatile region's future unanswered: What does it mean? Are militants disbanding and vanishing into the night? Is there a brutal battle ahead? Borodai, a Russian citizen who rose to power as pro-Russian rebels took portions of eastern Ukraine earlier this year, was a prominent public face for the separatists after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed last month. He gave little reason for his resignation Thursday, other than saying he considered the job of founding the republic to be finished and that it was time for a Ukrainian to take the reins. The announcement came after days of assault on rebel positions near Donetsk by Ukrainian forces. Shelling in the Donetsk area, which could be heard periodically in and around the city, killed four civilians and injured 18 others on Thursday, local officials said. About 25 miles to the northeast, rebels shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 near the town of Yenakievo on Thursday evening, Ukrainian military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov said. Initial information indicates that a missile from a Russian-made surface-to-air antiaircraft system, called Buk or SA-11, shot the plane, Seleznyov said. Information about the fate of the pilot wasn't immediately available. That's the same type of missile system that U.S. and Ukrainian officials have alleged downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine last month, killing all 298 people on board. U.S. officials have concluded the missile was fired from rebel-held territory. Rebel leaders and Russia, which Western nations have accused of supplying the rebels in the months-long fighting, deny involvement. The ongoing fighting has killed close to 1,400 people – civilians and combatants – and more than 4,000 people have been wounded in eastern Ukraine since mid-April, according to U.N. officials. The battles also have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and seek shelter either elsewhere in Ukraine or across the border in Russia. NATO warns Russia NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned Russia Thursday that any further intervention in Ukraine "would lead to further isolation" and "deeper, more profound, tougher economic sanctions that would really hurt the Russian economy." Rasmussen told reporters in Kiev he hopes that Russia, which according to NATO has 20,000 troops along the border with Ukraine, "steps back because it wouldn't be in Russia's interest to intervene further." Russia has denied allegations that it's supporting separatists in Ukraine and maintains that it wants to see a diplomatic solution to the crisis. But U.S. and Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of saying one thing while doing another – building up troops along the border and continuing to send support to pro-Russian separatists. MH17 search efforts halted The fighting also prompted an international team of experts, led by the Netherlands, to suspend its efforts to search the MH17 debris sites for remaining human remains amid fierce fighting in the area. The experts said the area wasn't safe to search, citing intensified battles in the area. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters Wednesday that search teams plan to return to the plane crash site. But he didn't give a date for when that might happen. "We have done what we could do in the current conditions," Rutte said. "Everyone will agree with us that we should not expose our people to unnecessary risk." Ukraine's government said Thursday that it was scrapping a cease-fire around the crash site – put in place to enable the team's work – until their mission restarts. In a statement on the Cabinet website, it accused the rebels of provocations and of putting the experts' lives at risk. The statement from Ukraine's Cabinet said at least three more zones where debris lies scattered remain unexamined. The experts plan to discuss when the next stage of the search operation might begin shortly, it said. Until the decision is made, most will leave Ukraine, but coordination and communication teams will stay. Search for MH17 victims halted for now What is Putin's endgame in Ukraine? U.S., EU coordinate on Russia sanctions, but will they work? Things to know about Russia and sanctions Russian troop increase at Ukraine border raises concerns


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A true love 'em / hate 'em band, Nickelback are one of the most notable rock successes of the last decade. With an astonishing 26 million albums sold, they are now one of Canada's most successful bands ever.
As the quartet (inevitably) ride back into the charts on new album Dark Horse, MusicRadar digs the dirt and fascinating facts on Nickelback so you don't have to…
1. Hotel receptionists want to kill them (probably)
Ryan Peake and Chad Kroeger break the monotony of the road by checking into hotels as Dr Noah Body and Harry Houdini. Let's just hope the Nickelback wags are never called upon to perform an emergency tracheotomy. Or, indeed, to escape from a straightjacket suspended above a ravine.
2. Chad is a better guitarist than you
Chad Kroeger started as Nickelback's lead guitarist, and has retained his competitive streak. "I'll sit down and have a go with any shredder," he puffed in 2002. "I learned by jamming along with Metallica, Megadeth and Testament, and you cannot play along with those bands without a good right hand."
3. They're not really from Vancouver
Nickelback appeared on the radar playing Green Day covers in the one-moose-town of Hanna, Alberta, but left for Vancouver when Chad decided that a throng of farm-hands didn't constitute 'a fanbase'. "It's impossible to get a band off the ground in Hanna," he reflects. Agriculture's loss was rock 'n' roll's gain.
4. They learnt from the masters
Ryan Peake's bulldozer riffs can be attributed to his first tab books - Metallica's Master Of Puppets and Ride The Lightning. In the perennial 'Hammett vs Hetfield' debate, he's firmly in the big fella's camp: "I was never that into Kirk's playing. James was the guy behind those songs and those rhythms as well."
5. Chad is lucky not to be in jail
Chad's delinquent lyrics are a fair reflection of his juvenile rap sheet, whose highlights include truancy, trespassing and the theft of a small truck. "I honestly think if Nickelback hadn't worked out, I'd be in jail, on a charge of grand theft auto or trafficking," he says. If only Canada had the ASBO...
6. They splash the cash
The killer hook in How You Remind Me - when the band drop out and Chad bellows 'for handing you a heart worth breaking!' - was the idea of drum tech Andrew Mawhinney.
Chad reflects: "He goes, 'you guys should do a big stop right at the last chorus'. We gave him $5000 just for that suggestion!" Was it really worth five grand?
7. Chad is six years from death…
… according to his calculations, anyway. "I will die on my 40th birthday," he told Playboy. "I dreamed it - I'll be onstage and have a heart attack, and the crowd will think it's part of the show. It's been foretold."
8. Their name has a rubbish story behind it
'The Beatles' came to John Lennon in a dream. 'The Doors' was inspired by a William Blake poem. The origins of Nickelback were more prosaic, with the name occuring to bassist Mike Kroeger as he toiled in Starbucks, repeating the same mantra as he handed customers their change: "here's your nickel back".
9. Chris Martin is a fan
Jaws dropped when it emerged that Nickelback's red-blooded odes to sex, cars and having sex in cars had struck a chord with Coldplay's fair trade frontman. "They take a lot of flak from people who've never done f*ck-all in their lives," he says. "I think they're great."
10. They murder axes
When Ryan comes offstage from a night of abusing guitars, he likes to… abuse more guitars. "Gibson send me unfinished guitars and I go to work on them," he explains. "We're from cattle country, so I've burned a horseshoe shape on one. I tried to make one look like a tree trunk, and another one - a Flying V - I beat the absolute shit out of. I'd never do it to a vintage guitar, but with new ones it doesn't matter."
11. They brought Dimebag back from the dead
Side Of A Bullet features a posthumous Dimebag Darrell solo assembled from outtakes from Pantera's Vulgar Display Of Power and Far Beyond Driven. The tribute to Nickelback's murdered drinking buddy remains the band's most personal moment.
"The last time I saw Dimebag, it was the end of a night out," Chad remembers. "I'm sitting in his car, he hands me a bottle of JD, I take a huge pull, open the door, throw up and send it back over. Then he got on the bus and that was the last time I saw him."
Check out Chad Kroeger's onstage Dimebag tribute.
12. They weren't always minted…
Nickelback's financial trajectory is practically a vertical line. Debut Curb was financed by a $4000 loan from Chad's stepfather. Follow-up The State was recorded for $30,000. This year, the band signed a management deal worth $70 million. "When we were kids in a garage, we were never thinking 'God, I can't wait to be rich'," counters Chad. "More like, 'I can't wait to see all the chicks in the front row!'"
13. … but now they are, they get free guitars
As the owner of "a credit card that's got no limit", it's no wonder Chad has refined his taste in gear. "My first guitar was a black Flying V [copy]," he recalls. "It was quite the heavy metal guitar, but I traded it in years ago." The frontman now chooses from an arsenal of PRS electrics stored on a tourbus, including a singlecut hollowbody signed and delivered by Paul Reed Smith. "I call him Santa Claus!" he laughs.
14. Chad hates his hair too
The case against Nickelback has long hinged on Chad's 'spaniel-in-a-wind-tunnel' hairstyle, but it might surprise haters to learn the singer is no fan either. "I was watching the How You Remind Me video and even I was disgusted," he sighs. "My hair was terrible. It made me look so old. I was 26 and looked 37."
15. Chad has yet to tire of How You Remind Me
"You have to maintain perspective," he says. "We're not the first band to have a song like this. As soon as I get sick of playing How You Remind Me, Mick Jagger should walk up to me and slap me in the face and say 'hey, when you've played Start Me Up as many times as I have, then you can bitch'."
Still, Kroeger can alway mash up his hits to stop himself getting bored? Here's a clever thing called 'How You Remind Me Of Someday'.
Nickelback's Dark Horse is out 17 November (UK) and 18 November (US).


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Before you begin
You must install a Web service before you can view any associated SOAP message handlers. See Install a Web service.
A Web service uses SOAP message handlers to intercept the request and response SOAP messages generated when the Web service is invoked by a client application. A Web service can have zero or more SOAP message handlers configured.
To view the SOAP message handlers configured for a Web service, follow these steps:
Note: Web services are deployed as part of an Enterprise application, Web application, or EJB. To understand how Web services are displayed in the Administration Console, see View installed Web services.


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Becoming Beast: Marvel's New Black Panther Movie Has a Surprising Medieval Connection
Lydia Zeldenrust /The Conversation
Black Panther looks to be another hit for Marvel. The film has been highly anticipated, not least because it is a milestone in cinema with a black lead superhero starring alongside a majority black cast.
The film tells the story of T'Challa, who grapples with his new role as king of the technologically advanced, fictional African nation of Wakanda. He also happens to be a badass warrior who runs around in a bulletproof catsuit with retractable claws.
Humans with the heightened senses and enhanced strength and agility of animals, have become a staple feature of the comic book genre. But what makes Black Panther different from Spiderman or Wolverine is that his abilities are not the result of genetic mutation or technological augmentation. Though his suit is advanced technology, T'Challa's abilities come from a magical herb and his mystical connection with a Panther god.
Considering these supernatural origins, Black Panther has interesting echoes with medieval tales of humans who take on the appearance and characteristics of beasts. And just like Black Panther, in these tales, getting closer to the animal doesn't make someone less than human – but superhuman.
These are not the usual stories of fear that the animal inside will overwhelm the human, but of humans still in control of their faculties when they become the beast.
- Werewolf Hunting #101 – In Search of Legends, and Busting Folklore Myths
- The Legendary Powers of a Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
- Medieval Sword contains Cryptic Code. British Library appeals for help to crack it.
Medieval Werewolves
Surely the most famous example of humans with the skins of beasts is the werewolf. Medieval werewolves differ from later versions, as they are often sympathetic heroes rather than dangerous adversaries.
Take Melion, one of King Arthur's knights. His transformation, with the help of an enchanted ring, is portrayed not as problematic, but as a loving gesture. Melion becomes a werewolf because he believes this will save his wife. Only in wolf form is he able to hunt down the stag she claims she must eat or she will die. The real foe in this story is the wife, as she takes her husband's becoming a wolf as the perfect excuse to elope with another man.
Engravings of wolves and wolf-men. (Public Domain)
Another heroic werewolf appears in the romance Guillaume de Palerne. This wolf saves the four-year-old prince Guillaume from his uncle's plot to poison him and take the throne. The werewolf continues to take care of Guillaume well into adulthood, probably because the two have much in common. The beast is also a prince, Alfonso, whose enchantment is the result of another family struggle over the throne.
Both tales show how there remains a human inside the beast. Melion continues to think rationally and feel human emotions while in wolf form. When at court, the wolf shows civilised behaviour, even drinking wine instead of water.
Alfonso might look like a dangerous animal, but he is highly intelligent and has self-control. His civilised, human nature shines through, for instance, when he feeds Guillaume processed food like bread and wine instead of raw meat. And when Alfonso does hunt, it is a sign of his intelligence, as he gets deer skins they can use as a disguise while they are on the run.
An illustration from 'Topographia Hiberniae' depicting the story of a traveling priest who meets and communes a pair of good werewolves from the kingdom of Ossory. (Public Domain)
Humans in Animal Skins
Melion and Alfonso have enhanced abilities, too – they are stronger, faster, and often more intelligent than humans – but the beast never takes over. Though their bodies change, their identity remains stable.
T'Challa is the Black Panther – a righteous king, noble Avenger, and fearsome warrior. (Art by Gabriele Dell'Otto)
Even when the wolves threaten to lose control and act violently against humans, these acts are presented as reasonable and understandable. This is because the main victim of such violence is someone who hurt them. Alfonso growls at the stepmother who enchanted him, and Melion attacks the man his wife left him for.
We are meant to see this not as a loss of control, but the only way someone stuck in a wolf skin can let others know of their plight, since they can no longer speak. Alfonso in particular finds out that when he gestures with his paws, the humans only give him a puzzled look – an interesting comment on the limits of communication across species.
- Evolving Forms: An Intriguing Look at Shapeshifting
- Excavations turn up medieval bones which may be a knight and his family
- Witch of Eye Burned Alive at the Stake: Did She Use Black Magic to Bewitch a King in a Game of Thrones-Style Plot?
Enhanced Humans?
In both tales, it is this uncharacteristic beastly behaviour that leads to the discovery that the wolves are enchanted humans, and their return to human form. But not all medieval stories end with a fairy tale like resolve where the animal becomes human again.
A case in point is Melusine, a woman cursed to turn into a half serpent once a week. After discovering her part-animal form, Melusine's husband chooses to see his wife as a beast rather than a fellow human being, condemning her to become a serpent for all time. But as with the werewolves, Melusine remains human inside her dragon-like suit – though with the added bonus of being able to fly.
Melusine takes care of her children while in half-animal form. (Public Domain)
What all this shows is that humans with the abilities of animals are certainly not an idea first invented in comic books. But like Black Panther, these medieval stories are about a fusion of human and animal characteristics rather than strict hybridity – highlighting the potential advantages of becoming beast. As a reader or viewer, we are invited to imagine what it may be like to be an animal – but while the human inside remains unchanged.
Top Image: Marvel Hi-Res Black Panther Image Revealed. Source: FLYGUY/CC BY NC ND 2.0
The article 'Becoming Beast: Marvel's New Black Panther Movie Has a Surprising Medieval Connection' by Lydia Zeldenrust was originally published on The Conversation and has republished under a Creative Commons license


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Hello to all my new blog friends! Just wanted to leave a quick note to tell you all that I am home from the hospital and recovering well from my hysterectomy. There were 8 people in the operating room for my surgery which totally shocked me. There was the anesthesiologist and his med student, the oncologist who actually did the surgery and his 2 residents and 3 nurses. Right before they put me to sleep I said if there is any way to complete this surgery without having to cut me wide open please please do it. I don't know if it was because I had said this or not but Dr. S. (my oncologist) said that there were a few complications that they weren't expecting and I lost a lot more blood than usual and he came so close to cutting me open, but they were able to complete the surgery with 4 small incisions and vaginally, I can live with that! Thank you God! So I am in full recovery mode right now, catching up on reading all my favourite blogs and sleeping (lots of sleeping!). My mother in law has been my angel and is here with my FIL looking after me and the kids. I am very VERY blessed.
Here are the "Highlights" of my stay in the "all-inclusive resort":
1st Photo: The food is so gross. Why oh why do they feed sick people disgusting food?
2nd photo: It's not that obvious in this photo but when they intubated me they must have banged my lip pretty hard as I had a fat lip when I woke up. My hubby thinks it's hilarious that I can only smile with half my face!
3rd photo: I lost my knuckles! My left hand was so swollen by the IV! Thank goodness I had removed my wedding rings!!
Thank you for all the wonderful emails of love, support and prayers you have sent me! I will let you know my biopsy results as soon as I get them (in approx. 1 week). :) Cath


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Amazon recently announced a new service called Kindle Matchbook. Akin to the digital and physical music album matching AutoRip service, Matchbook will offer users Kindle editions of physical books purchased from Amazon at steep discounts.
Starting in October, Matchbook will offer Kindle editions for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or for free to customers that purchased the physical version of the book new from Amazon. The company is extending the program to those books purchased from 1995 to the present, and to future purchases. The program will cover approximately 10,000 books at the time of the program's launch in October.
Notably, the Kindle Matchbook program depends on publisher support, which means that users will only be able to get the discounted ebooks if the physical book publisher allows it. Hopefully, publishers will jump on board with the program and add more books to the supported library!
Keep an eye on Amazon's homepage for more information next month.


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My sister and I have decided to do are own book challenge in 2013, that is to read the House of Night Series. It is a series I haven't managed to finish yet so I decided to start all over again with a challenge.
You can join in the challenge if you like by simply following these rules:
*Copy and paste the banner to your blog linking to my sisters blog http://readinglittlebitofeverything.blogspot.co.uk/
*Make a blog post about the challenge to let everyone know!
*Please come back and comment and let us know you are taking part by leaving your blog url!
*Please come back and comment and let us know you are taking part by leaving your blog url!
*At the beginning of each month, a post will be posted up labelled House of Night challenge #1, #2, #3 etc on both blogs with a linky list so you can link your review of the book though out the month
*At the end of each month we will visit and leave you a comment and all participates who have posted their review that month will be put in to a draw to win a different prize each month, it could be a swag, ebook, paperback etc.
*Each Sunday of the month, my sister and I will be making a video or a blog post updating you on how we are doing in the challenge and will have a house of night related question, which you can make a blog post and discuss if you like -This isn't mandatory-
*Last time to join the challenge is the 1st December 2013
Reading Schedule:
January - Marked
(House of Night #1)
February - Betrayed (House of Night (#2)
March - Chosen
House of Night #3)
April - Untamed House of Night #4)
May - Hunted (House of Night #5)
June - Tempted (House of Night #6)
July - Burned (House of Night #7)
August - Awakened (House of
Night #8)
September - Destined (House of Night #9)
October - Hidden
(House of Night #10)
November - Dragon's Oath
December - Lenobia's Vow (Novella)
Giveaway each month for non-particpants:
Also for those not taking part there will be a giveaway of a house of night book each month that you can enter. So for January, you can win Marked, for Febuary, Betrayed and so forth. There may be different rules and regulations for each giveaway so be sure to
read them when the giveaway is posted!
Happy Reading!


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(WNS) -- Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, a former presidential candidate and favorite of Tea Party Republicans, announced last week she will not run for another term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
"My decision was not influenced by any concerns about my being reelected," Bachmann said in a video posted on her website. She narrowly won a fourth term in 2012 over Democrat Jim Graves, a hotel chain founder who is running again in 2014.
"This decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign," Bachmann added. In January, one of Bachmann's former aides, Peter Waldron, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, claiming the candidate made improper payments to an Iowa state senator who was the state chairman of her 2012 presidential run. Waldron also accused Bachmann of other FEC violations.
Prior to the video announcement, Bachmann hadn't given any clue she was considering leaving Congress. Her fundraising operation was churning out its usual pitches, and she even had an ad running on Twin Cities television talking about her role in opposing President Barack Obama's health law.
Andy Aplikowski, who has long been active in the district's Republican Party chapter, said he expected Bachmann to run again but can understand why she chose not to.
"It's a grueling thing to be in Congress," he said. "It's a grueling thing to be Michele Bachmann in Congress. Every move you make is criticized and put under a microscope."
Bachmann did not give any reason for her decision and said she would not be available to answer questions in the wake of the announcement.
An outspoken opponent of the Obama administration, Bachmann promised her supporters, "I will continue to work overtime for the next 18 months in Congress defending the same constitutional conservative values we have worked so hard on together."
Speaking on what's next for her career, Bachmann said, "There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political arena or otherwise, that I won't be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation."
c. 2013 WORLD News Service. Used with permission.
Publication date: June 4, 2013


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Ultima Classics Revisited (UCR) is an attempt to offer modern
OS-compatible engines for the first six Ultima games. The only completely
playable game for UCR is Akalabeth (aka Ultima 0), and there is a partial
implementation of an Ultima 1 engine.
UCR doesn't require any extra data files to play Akalabeth. If you want
to check out UCR's partial Ultima 1 engine, you'll need the game data
files from Ultima 1 (place them in /usr/share/ucr/games/u1).
Akalabeth is played entirely with the keyboard. Since the keyboard
controls aren't documented anywhere in the UCR source (other than by
reading the C++ code), here's a list of keystrokes:
S - Show character stats (hit points, equipment, etc)
P - Pause/Resume
Space - Pass
F11 - Toggle original/enhanced graphics
F12 - Enable/disable music
Up/Down/Left/Right Arrows - Move North/South/East/West
E - Enter Town or Castle
In Dungeons:
Up - Move Forward
Down - Turn Around
Left/Right - Turn Left/Right
A - Attack
E - Climb Ladder or Descend into Hole
UCR doesn't support saving the game like the PC version of Akalabeth does.
Maintained by: B. Watson
Keywords: ultima,rpg,akalabeth
ChangeLog: ucr
Download SlackBuild:
ucr.tar.gz.asc (FAQ)
(the SlackBuild does not include the source)
Individual Files: |
doinst.sh |
slack-desc |
ucr.6 |
ucr.SlackBuild |
ucr.desktop |
ucr.info |
ucr.png |
© 2006-2024 SlackBuilds.org Project. All rights reserved.
Slackware® is a registered trademark of
Patrick Volkerding
Linux® is a registered trademark of
Linus Torvalds


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Ben-To School Comedy TV Anime's Station Ads Streamed
posted on by Egan Loo
On Thursday, the official website for the television anime adaptation of Asaura's Ben-To "school serious/gag action" light novel series began streaming a series of commercials for three television stations running the anime. The anime will premiere on Tokyo MX, TV Aichi, and TVK on October 11, 8, and 9, respectively.
The story revolves around a poor high school student named Yō Satō (Hiro Shimono). Satō goes to the supermarket one day and discovers a bentō (boxed meal) on sale at half price. Just as he reaches to grab it, he ends up on the floor unconscious. Satō has just entered the fierce, no-holds-barred "supermarket survival battle" for half-price bentō.
Shin Itagaki (Devil May Cry, Mayoi Neko Overrun!) is directing the anime, and he is also responsible for story editing (with Kazuyuki Fudeyasu of Bleach, Monster and Gunslinger Girl) and design works. Katsuzo Hirata (Cosplay Complex, Hand Maid May) serves as both the character designer and the chief animation director. Taku Iwasaki (Black Butler, Gurren Lagann, Soul Eater) is composing the music. Mariya Ise and Emiri Katō voice the story's competitors Sen Yarizui ("The Frozen Witch") and Ayame Shaga ("The Beauty of the Lake"). Ise also sings the ending theme song, "Egao no Hōsoku," under Sen's name.
Asaura has been publishing the light novel series through Shueisha's Super Dash Bunko imprint since 2008. Kaito Shibano (Luminous Arc simulation role-playing games' character designs) illustrates the volumes.
Source: Saishin Anime Jōhō
Image © Asaura, Kaito Shibano/Shueisha, HP Club


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Valuable lessons behind the wheel
04/02/2014 09:54AM ● By AclKaren Dickens explains the parking brake to a young driver.
By John Chambless
Staff Writer
Twenty students at Oxford High School got some real-life experiences behind the wheel on Tuesday morning, even if the cars were golf carts and the speeds were very low.
The SmartDrive organization, a non-profit organization founded in Delaware in 2004, came to the school as part of its regular series of classes, bringing students out to the parking lot for some valuable lessons that went well beyond the textbook.
Karen Dickens, the program coordinator, stood next to the Gem Car, a battery-powered miniature vehicle, while two students got inside. She covered the basics that young drivers might not think about – adjust your mirrors, place your heel on the floor so that you can pivot from the gas pedal to the brake without interruption. Put your hands in the proper places on either side of the steering wheel so that, if the air bag goes off, it doesn't drive your hands up into your face and break your nose.
The idea was to drive the Gem Car forward between safety cones, then reverse it back to its starting point, without hitting anything. "Guys, I always tell you that a car is like a girl. If you jerk her around on the first date, she's not going to want to date you a second time," Dickens told two boys in the car. "Remember – smooth and easy does it." The young driver, grinning, completed the short course and made room for the next pair of students.
Nearby, students took turns pedaling a tricycle around safety cones while not impaired, then
donned goggles with blurry lenses to simulate the altered depth perception and vision that come with being drunk. Laughing, the students did their best to maneuver, but most ran over at least one cone.
And then there was the area where pairs of students had to drive a full-size, gas-powered golf cart through a course while answering questions relayed to them inside the car from a SmartDrive volunteer on a microphone. "What's the name of the vice-president?" "What's 22 divided by 11?" he asked them in rapid sequence while they circled the cones. After they got back to the starting point, they were asked, "What happened when you were answering?"
"I took my foot of the gas," one boy said.
"That's right. When you start to engage your mind for the thinking, you stop the mind for the driving," the instructor said with a smile.
Students were timed during the course, and driving while distracted added 15 to 20 seconds to their times.
David Phillips, a media relations specialist for State Farm Insurance, one of the SmartDrive program's sponsors, said that distracted driving is now the main culprit in teen crashes.
"We're focusing on what's called engaged driving," Phillips said. "Programs like this are a safe way to develop a skill set so young drivers know what to do in certain situations. There's no magic number of hours that teaches kids to drive. It varies, depending on the child.
Crashes remain the number-one killer of teens," Phillips added. "In driver's ed classes, it's becoming less about drinking and driving than it is about driving while distracted."
Teens are comfortable using phones, iPods and other electronics simultaneously in their daily lives, so taking them along in the car seems natural to them. Karen Versuk, of the SmartDrive organization, said, "Distraction is a huge issue right now. We all know that this new generation is attached to their phones, and they're comfortable using them in the car."
Versuk said the SmartDrive online classes supplement traditional driver's ed classes, but go much deeper.
"We cover things like what to do when you come to a funeral procession, or you're behind
an Amish buggy," Versuk said. "We talk about how to put in a car seat, what do do in different kinds of weather, and how to behave during a traffic stop. Kids don't know what to do in those situations, so we cover those things."
Back in the Oxford High School parking lot, every student got a chance to experience all three driving challenges. While they laughed at their mistakes, they also took the lessons seriously.
One young driver told Dickens that he had never been behind the wheel of a car before. Dickens explained how to begin to drive and let the young man try it. When he got to the end of the course, she shouted, "OK, now put on the brake," and the driver reached for the parking brake lever.
"No! Not the parking brake!" Dickens shouted. "I'll give you points for knowing where it is, but you don't want to pull that. You know how kids do doughnuts in the parking lot? That's how they do it."
The boy grinned and apologized, but the lesson hit home. He nodded when Dickens advised him, "Remember, it's most important to pay attention behind the wheel."